Trimmer by Kalisto Barques - HTML preview

“How do you think I am, Adeo?” She pulled a handkerchief out of her purse. “I have two four-month-old twins at home that don’t sleep through a night! I have a nagging mother, who can’t stand that my husband is in a mental health facility! And I can’t sleep at night, because I’m not used to sleeping alone!” She dabbed furiously at the tears that always seemed to flow. “I miss you, Adeo.”

He heard the weariness in her voice and felt the guilt of her grief on his shoulders. “Zoe, beloved, you know I am ill. I am getting better every day, the doctors tell me so.” He dropped his head into his hands and wept. “I am so sorry that I drug you and the children into this! I just couldn’t keep it up anymore. I know that what I was doing was wrong! I need help, and I’m getting it!” He looked up at her, the torture he was going through plain in his face. “I want to get well again! For you, Zoe… for the children! God help me, I do!”

She pulled back away from the window, her mouth a surprised little O. “I believe you!”

The frightened whisper came through the small black phone he held. Immediately his temper cooled. “Oh God, Zoe, I’m so sorry! It’s just so… cold… so lonely in here! I long to be with you and the kids.” He wiped his face with the back of his hand. It came away pink. He sighed. “Zoe, I want you to speak with Dr. Martin. You need to sleep more. Let your mother take care of the kids for a bit. Please, honey, take care of yourself?”

She nodded as the doctor came back into the room. “I’ll speak to Martin, and maybe start taking naps during the day.” She looked at him solemnly and dabbed at her eyes again. “I love you Adeo, with all my heart. Marius, Flavia, and I will be waiting for you when you get out of this hellish place. Farewell, my love.” She hung up the phone, knowing his response would not be spoke aloud.

He smiled as she set the handset down. I trust you, Zoe. You are my life. You and the children are my reason for doing this, my reason for living. I’ll love you until the end of time, beloved!

She gave him a radiant smile before she left.

Adeo watched her go, concern written on his face. “She’s pale, Dr. Mitchell. I’m worried about her. She admits she isn’t getting enough sleep. I just… I’m worried.”

Mitchell had seen how pale the young woman was. “She gave birth to twins four months ago, right?” At his patient’s nod, he sighed. “Stay here,” he commanded and walked over to the phone on the wall. Lifting the handset he dialed a series of numbers. “This is Dr. Mitchell, Howard Mitchell. There is a young woman, roughly thirty, coming down in the elevator right now. Her name is Zoe Sidonius. I want you to stop her and have Dr. Martin paged.”

Adeo’s senses suddenly became alert. “She’s in danger.” He said it quietly but the doctor still whipped around to face him. He shrugged. “Just call it a hunch. I know my wife. We have a very special connection.”

“She will be taken care of. Come on, it’s time for you to go back to your room.”

Anger flared hot and violent in his heart. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slow he followed. “Yes, doctor. Will you tell me how she fares?”

The doctor opened a door to one of the patient rooms. “I will. Get some rest, son. We have another session in two hours.”

Adeo nodded. “Yes sir.” Worry coursed through him. Slumping back on the bed, he stared at the ceiling. He could feel that she was not well. She was too tired… too restless.

Zoe leaned back against the wall of the elevator as it descended. Lord, I’m tired, so tired. Closing her eyes, she waited for the doors to open. When they did she pushed away from the wall and reeled. Staggering out of the elevator, she stumbled to her knees, then rolled to her side as she fainted.

A security guard rushed up followed by a nurse. “She’s the one we were told to watch for,” he said. “Mrs. Sidonius. She’s supposed to be detained until Dr. Martin can look her over.” He looked up at the nurse and frowned, “It would seem that she’s about to be admitted. Bring me the first aid kit from behind the desk, would you?” When he had it, he rummaged inside for a jar of smelling salts. He uncapped the jar of noxious material and waved it under her nose. When she started coughing, he put the jar away. “Mrs. Sidonius? Now, you just take it easy ma’am.” When she lost consciousness again a moment later, he patted her cheeks. “Mrs. Sidonius?”

The elevator door opened and a man in a white coat stepped out. Seeing the situation, he hurried over. When he heard the young woman’s name, he knelt down immediately. “How long has she been like this?”

“Just a few minutes, doctor. I used the salts to revive her after she fainted. She stayed conscious for moments and then she lost consciousness again. I have been unable to revive her since.”

“I see.” The doctor timed her pulse. “Her pulse is slow. Get me a gurney down here now!” He plugged a pair of ear buds into his ears and listened to her heart through the stethoscope. “She’s in real trouble here! There’s no time to get a gurney.” He lifted the young woman into his arms. “Nurse, get her purse and follow me.” Walking quickly, he hurried towards the emergency room. “Hold on Zoe, I know what Adeo would want me to do.” He pushed through the doors and headed for an empty treatment room. “I need a pint of blood, stat!”

Zoe forced her eyes open. “R…R…Richard?”

“That’s right, Zoe. Now you just rest. I’ve got a transfusion coming in. We’ll get you all fixed up, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

Adeo felt a surge of peace and relaxed marginally. Martin! What is wrong with you Zoe? What is it that has you so ill? His mind flitted back over the months that he’d been with his wife before he’d given himself up. The night he’d gone to her house and held her while she’d cried. The day they’d married. The day it had been confirmed that she was carrying his child. The day he’d killed the man who had looked so much like Detective Taggart sped through his head, making his stomach churn. He shook the memory aside and thought of Zoe. His eyes closed and he groaned as he remembered the day that he’d found her in the kitchen with that horrible cut in her hand.

“Zoe, what happened? How did you get this?” He remembered the stricken look on her face and the way her uninjured hand had strayed to her abdomen. “Zoe, I asked you a question.”

“I cut it in the garden.”

He’d let out an exasperated sigh and snapped, “On what? What did you cut it on?” He remembered that the cut had been deep. And how he, without thinking, had cut his own palm with his pinky nail and had pressed it to hers. The wounds had closed immediately, and he’d thought nothing more about it until now. “Oh God! What have I done? Zoe!” He sat up, shaking. He realized what he had done and what Martin now had to do to help her. He buried his face in his hands sobbing. “I’m so sorry! God forgive me, I am so sorry, Zoe!”

When Dr. Mitchell opened the door half an hour later, he found his patient still sobbing. The duty nurse had alerted him to the man’s condition, but he’d thought nothing of it. ‘Just let the man have a good cry.’ Wasn’t that what you said to yourself, Howard? He heaved a sigh and silenced the voice. Stepping all the way into the room, he closed the door and leaned against it. “What is it that you think you did to your wife, Mr. Sidonius? Is it the guilt you feel for committing the crimes, or is it something else, we haven’t talked about yet?”

Adeo’s red-rimmed eyes shot upward. His cheeks were streaked with pink and his hospital attire was stained. “How is Zoe?”

Frustration warring with exhaustion, Dr. Howard Mitchell pushed away from the door. “She’s better. Dr. Martin had to give her a blood transfusion. It would seem that she’s anemic.”

“Anemic?” Adeo snorted. “Listen, doctor,” he began changing the subject. “There is something that we need to talk about. I need to get it off my chest. You’re likely not going to believe it. Lord knows I find it hard to believe, myself sometimes.” He pushed himself back against the headboard and gestured for the doctor to sit on the bed. “You’ll want to sit down, because I’m not really inclined to pick you up off the floor, right now. It’s hard enough to focus myself away from the anger and self-loathing I feel.”

The doctor sat and looked at him in surprise. “Your candor is something new. I guess your wife should have come to see you sooner. Now, what’s on your mind, son? What is it that you have to tell me?”

Adeo grumped. “What do you know of the Roman Empire, Doctor?”

“I studied classic literature, but not so much the Roman Empire, why?” Howard was clearly intrigued.

“In the year 48 B.C., Vitellius was the Emperor of Rome. He was said to have no children, yet this was incorrect. He had a daughter, Faustina. Faustina was a spoiled, frivolous woman. When we were married, I was unaware of the failings of my virtuous young bride. She quickly disabused me of my notions of having a family, carrying on my family’s name as well as the bloodline of a Roman Emperor.” He sighed and plunged ahead. “She spent my fortune with little care for my wishes. She entertained her lovers in our home when I was away on business. I was an olive farmer, you see, and my work took me out on the road for at least four months of every year.”

“You were an olive farmer in 48 B.C? You’re asking me to believe that you are over two thousand years old?”

Adeo looked at him solemnly. “I am asking you to listen to my story. Whatever you believe is up to you doctor. Now, as I said, my work kept me on the road for roughly four months of each year. Imagine my surprise when, the year after we were married, I came home to ridicule. A long time friend of my family felt it was prudent to inform me of my wife’s infidelity. I tell you now, I probably could have lived a lifetime without knowing.” He sighed. “But I digress. When I found out about Faustina’s treachery, I confronted her. She laughed in my face and freely admitted that she was cuckolding me. She firmly refused to give me any children, no matter how I tried to give her what she wanted. I told her I would overlook her lovers, if only she would give me a child.”

He remembered her laughter at his suggestion. “Surely you don’t expect me to ruin my figure by siring a screaming brat, do you husband dear? I will beget no children of yours!”

His eyes narrowed as he remembered. Suddenly he shook himself and focused on the doctor again. “She did not want to ruin her figure by bearing children. I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to do to get her to give me what I wished for. I even tried to use her father against her. She said she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to ruin her figure for a screaming brat.” He folded his long white arms. “So I let her have her way, and when I was comforted by her lady’s maid, I did not object. In truth, I had watched the young maid and had craved her from the beginning. She was a willow slim and golden-haired beauty. I took her to my bed many times before Faustina grew suspicious. It was one night, when I had returned from a long journey, to Persia I believe, we were to meet in the grove of olive trees as we had many times before.”

He smiled. “I waited for a long while, growing worried when she did not appear at the time we had agreed upon. I was relieved, however, when I saw her coming a few moments later. She ran towards me, falling into my arms. It was there, kneeling in the moonlight, that my beloved Zoe spoke her last words to me.” He looked at the doctor with a wry smile. “She said that Faustina had found out about us. I knew then that she had been poisoned by that spoiled bitch, I was married to. I carried my beloved’s lifeless body into my bedchamber. Faustina and I had our confrontation there. I do not remember exactly what happened next, but I remember standing on the hills above my estate watching it burn.” He shook his head. “If I had not embarrassed Caesar in front of his guards, things might have turned out differently. By then I was quite mad with grief, and did not choose my words carefully.”

“So you burned your wife alive and your lover’s body as well?” Mitchell tried to put the puzzle pieces together in his head.

“No. I believe Faustina was dead before I started the fire. But I didn’t want any reminder of that pale golden shell. Caesar was quite angry at being publicly humiliated and threw me into jail. I sat there for days… weeks… months… even I don’t know how long I sat there awaiting execution, before Marius found me. He was smooth and elegant, so handsome. I think I may have been in love with him at some point, but I can never say for sure. He was as elusive as a butterfly in those days. Since then he has disappeared. Yet it was in a cold jail cell that he found me rotting. He took me to his bosom and warmed me. He whispered all sorts of dark promises into my ear as he stroked my hair, and I like a fool fell under his spell. I let him defile me. I let him feed on me, and in the end I let him take my life away from me. He took away my life and gave me a new one, one that was dark and sordid, and filled with murder after murder. I’ve lived for over two thousand years, and the only thing I have to show for it is a twenty-six year old wife and two beautiful little kids who have to try to live with my mistakes.”

The doctor blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “You have a rather colorful tale there, Mr. Sidonius. I’m inclined to believe that you are a history buff, who made up this wild tale in order to avoid the truth of what you’ve done. You’ve murdered thirty…”

“Many times that number. I’ve killed more than ten times that many people in the two thousand years I have been as I am. I am not proud of the things I have done, but I can’t let it tear me apart either. Many of the people I killed deserved to die anyway. Some were innocents, many of the women I killed were.” He rested his chin on his crossed arms and closed his eyes. “I don’t know what I can do to make it up to the families I’ve hurt. I honestly don’t think I can. I just know that I have to fix what is wrong with me. I think, at least it is my opinion, that I killed those women because they reminded me of Faustina.”

“Faustina was your wife, right?” The doctor turned to face him. “You said that she was cheating on you. Didn’t you also say that you killed her?” He noted the nod of his patient before pushing on. “Tell me about her, more than just the willful spoiled woman. What did she look like? How close to her were you before you married? What kind of man was her father? Did she have a history of health issues? Do you?”

Adeo chuckled. “We did not have the medical know how then that we have now.” He frowned as he tried to call up Faustina’s face. “She was a statuesque blonde. Her blue eyes were like those of a dove. When I met her she was nice. She was attractive and virtuous. Innocence surrounded her like a cloud. What I didn’t know at the time was that it was only a cloud. A very pretentious white cloud, covering a heart as black a pitch. The woman was rotten through and through before I ever met her!” He turned his head away from the doctor and fought to wipe the image of his dead wife out of his head.

“You can’t get rid of me forever, Adeo. I’m always going to be right here in the back of your mind. It was your mistake telling me that you loved me. Then giving your heart to that whore from Persia! If only you had stayed true to me, my darling. You would have been rewarded handsomely.”

He snorted. “Like you were true to me, my brazen wife? You rewarded me for my years of devotion by cuckolding me with every Praetorian Guard this side of the Euphrates!”

Startled, the doctor stared at him. “Adeo?”

“You hear that Adeodatus? He sounds worried about you. I bet he suspects your sanity, beloved.”

He growled. “Don’t call me that! You are unworthy of my love. I love Zoe! I always have! Leave me in peace woman! You are nothing more than a restless spirit that my mind has conjured up to torment me for my crimes!” Laughter filled his head and he began to tremble.

Dr. Mitchell reached out tentatively, jerking his hand back at the last moment. Rising from the bed, he went to the cabinet and retrieved a blanket. Wrapping it around his patient’s shoulders he sighed. “You just try to relax a moment, Adeo. I’ll be right back with something that will help you sleep.”

Adeo didn’t look up. He just pulled the thick blanket around his shoulders and huddled like a child. When the doctor came back several moments later, he docilely gave the man his arm. He felt the prick of a needle and a silver dart of medication race up his veins. He grabbed the doctor’s wrist as he turned away. “I wanted to say thank you.” He paused and gritted his teeth. “I want to silence her voice in my head. I believe that you are the man who can help me do that.”

Mitchell settled his free hand over the pale patient’s. “That’s what I’m here for Adeo. To help you get well again. You have a wife and two little ones depending on you.” With a final nod, he disengaged Adeo’s hand and exited the room. Going back to his office, he watched his patient on the monitor. When he saw the man lie down, curled into a fetal position and wrapped in the blanket, he made a notation in his journal. He watched the sleeping man until his own eyes began to droop closed. Sometime in the night he heard a sound. “Huh?” The scraping was punctuated by a soft click. He sat up as someone came into his dimly lit office and closed the door.

Adeo looked at the groggy doctor and smiled. “I won’t hurt you, doctor. Just relax.” He flipped the lock and glided across the floor. Sitting on the inside edge of the desk, his knees nearly touching the doctor’s hand, he smiled again. Reaching out with a pale hand, he stroked the good doctor’s sable hair. “So much of your life has already been spent, Doctor.”

“Howard,” was the soft reply.

Adeo nodded. “You want to know if I’m really what I say I am, don’t you Howard? You want to know if all those legends and ghost stories you heard when you were a youngster are true? Come here and let me show you.” He slid his hand around behind the doctor’s head and dropped to his knees beside the chair. Turning his head just enough so that the light glinted off his teeth, he let his blood teeth descend. “I am.”

Howard Mitchell felt fear curl in the pit of his stomach. This man is the demon he claims to be! Good God! What am I going to do? He’ll kill me!

Adeo shook his head and responded as if he heard the doctor’s thoughts. “I will not kill you, Howard. Much like Detective Taggart, you are willing, are you not? You want to see that which defies medical science? To see how the man, who is neither living nor dead, survives?”

Howard nodded but held up a hand. “I see now that you can read people’s thoughts at will. What I want to know now is…” Will it hurt?

Adeo smiled gently. “What do you want to know, Howard?” He’d read the thought, but he wanted the man to say it aloud. Only then would he know his subject was willing.

Howard sighed. “Will it hurt?”

Adeo nodded and shook his head. “It will only be a brief pain before…”

“Before you kill me?”

Adeo frowned at the doctor and stroked the back of his neck. “No, Howard. It will hurt for a moment as I penetrate your throat with my teeth, then the pain will be gone. I will not take enough to kill you. I shall only take a little, just enough to show you that I truly am the demon I say I am.” He leaned forward then, but felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait!” When his patient looked up, Howard continued. “What will it feel like? What will you be doing to me?”

Adeo let a grin spread across his lips. “Why doctor, how good of you to ask!” He raised his head and slid his hand into the doctor’s hair. He softened his look and brushed a thumb over the man’s lips. “I intend for you to enjoy this, Howard.” He let his thumb brush over the man’s lips again, drawing a gasp from him. Then without warning, his own lips replaced his thumb. He used gentle persuasion to part the doctor’s lips and kissed him passionately.

Howard Mitchell, widower for twenty years, sank further into the web of desire the vampire was weaving around him. His mind protested, weakly. This is a man… a demon kissing you. What are you doing? You’re not into men! He found his hands gripping the patient’s shoulders, but rather than pushing him away, he was pulling the man closer. His mind railed against his body’s actions. He fought against the arousal that stirred in his loins. In the end he let himself be cradled against this man’s chest, like a lover. “Take what you want of me,” he whispered hoarsely.

Adeo flicked the tip of his tongue over the doctor’s throat, near his ear. “Oh I will, Howard, I will. And it will be ecstasy for you. I promise you that.” He bit down swiftly, his right hand straying to the doctor’s lap. As he supped on the doctor’s blood, he slipped his hand into the man’s trousers and fondled him. You are so young. You should marry again. He slid his hand over the doctor’s swollen member, drawing the pleasure out of him with great care. He dined slowly, causing the man to feel a gentle pull at his throat. Soon, he knew the doctor’s attention was drawn away from the sensations at his throat, by the sensations in his lap.

“Oh Lord,” Howard groaned.

Adeo smiled and knew his subject was close to orgasm. Pulling his fangs free of the man’s throat, he held the man on the precipice of pleasure until the wounds closed over. He pulled with his hand one more time and felt the heat rush out of the throbbing erection. He pulled and pushed, milking the pleasure for what it was worth and chuckled lightly as the man in the chair lost consciousness. Releasing the man’s penis, he rose. “I don’t think we have to worry about you telling anyone about this, Howard, but all the same, you should keep it to yourself.” He slipped out of the office and returned to his room. Curling up in the blanket on the bed, he drifted into a pleasant sleep.

The sun shone through the closed blinds. Dr. Howard Mitchell stirred groggily at his desk. The door across the room opened and a tall brunette stepped in closing the door behind her. Her eyes traveled across the large wooden desk to the man asleep in the chair. Her eyes rounded and her mouth dropped open. Quickly flipping the latch, she hurried to the desk and set down her notebook. She delicately touched him, settling him back inside his trousers.

Howard Mitchell’s eyes flew open at the warm touch on his cold skin. He grabbed her wrist and made a choked sound. “Francine!”

“Dr. Mitchell? I was just trying to save your dignity. You shouldn’t do things like that in your office at night.” She felt him growing hard under her hand and looked down into his eyes. “If you’ll let go of my wrist I’ll remove my hand.” She swallowed. “Howard? I won’t ell anyone what I found this morning, if that’s what you’re worried about. I promise!” Her cheeks tinted as he continued to watch her.

He shivered slightly under her touch. “Francine, I…” He pulled her hand out of his trousers and pulled her into his lap. “Let me take you out to dinner? I’ve wanted to ask you for a while, but after this…” He flushed in embarrassment. “I’ll understand if you don’t want…”

She silenced him with her lips. “Howard, I’ve been waiting for nearly twenty years for you to open up to me.” She kissed him tenderly. “I’d love to have dinner with you, and then maybe a nightcap afterwards?”

He chuckled warmly and wrapped his arms around her. “Why didn’t you tell me years ago?”

“Would you have even responded to me then? I don’t think you would have. You were so wrapped up in Maureen’s death that you were oblivious to everything and everyone.” She scooted out of his lap. “You have a clean suit in your cabinet. I’ll lay it out for you.”

He frowned at her sudden change in mood. “You were in nursing school then, weren’t you?”

She lifted the suit out of the tall pine cabinet. “Yes.”

He zipped his trousers and rose. Crossing the floor he took the suit from her and set it back on the bar in the cabinet. Taking her shoulders, he turned her to face him. “Have you been in love with me all this time?” She didn’t need to answer, he saw what he needed in her eyes. “Francine, I didn’t know. How could I?”

“You never would have noticed me if I hadn’t found you here in your office this morning with your fly open and your penis hanging out. All I wanted to do was help you save some face. I’ve kept my feelings to myself all these years. I can continue to do so for as long as it takes.”

He pulled her against his chest and smothered her with his lips. “You’re wrong you know. I noticed you about ten years ago. I just never had the courage to say anything about it. I was so dedicated to my work, that I couldn’t…” He smothered her lips again. Backing her into the cabinet, he let himself go.

It was early evening when the door to his room opened. Adeo cracked open an eye and frowned. “Good evening, Doctor.”

“Good evening, Mr. Sidonius.” He had a spring in his step when he entered the room. “How are you feeling, tonight?”

“You seem chipper.” Adeo sat up and looked the man over. “If I had to guess I’d say you were in love.”

The doctor smiled. “You could say that. I wanted to talk to you about… last night,” he finished in a low tone. “Take a walk with me, Mr. Sidonius. I’m going to take you to your wife’s room as we discuss it.”

Adeo eyed him suspiciously. “A conversation off the record? I’m intrigued.” He rose and followed the doctor out. “What do you want to know?”

Dr. Mitchell eyed the man at his side. “Why did you do it?”

Adeo shrugged. “You needed proof.”

“You didn’t have to get all hot and heavy with me.” He turned to his patient and took his shoulder. “Look, I get the point. You are what you say you are. But don’t ever violate me like that again, understand?”

Adeo reversed their positions and back the doctor into a vacant room. Backing him against the wall, he held him there with one hand. “I understand perfectly doctor. Just so you understand what I can do to you or anyone else at anytime. I want to forget my dead wife. I want to get on with my life.”

Howard grabbed the hand that was planted in his chest and pulled the patient into a hug. “Listen very carefully to me now Adeo. An orderly has seen us and is coming this way. Pretend to be broken up about something so that I can console you. That way, he won’t cause problems.”

Adeo nodded and turned on the waterworks. He buried his face in the doctor’s shoulder.

The doctor held him and spoke gently. “Your wife is much better now. Dr. Martin gave her a transfusion last night and one this morning. Let’s go see her…” The orderly opened the door and he waved him back. “My patient has just received some good news. Go about our business. I have this under control.” When the orderly was gone, he pushed Adeo away. “Just so we’re clear here, Mr. Sidonius. We’ll work through your problems a lot quicker if you would just quit fighting me. Now come on. I’m taking you to see your wife before I go off duty for the evening. I have a date tonight.”

Nodding, Adeo followed docilely. “I think we understand each other well, Dr. Mitchell. Very well indeed.” They walked through the halls and out a set of double doors. The same double doors they brought me through four months ago. Nothing in this hospital changes. He looked over at the doctor. Okay, well some things change. They took an elevator to another floor; Adeo didn’t really pay attention. When they arrived outside a door he hesitated. “Is she in there?”

A voice behind him spoke. “Yes, Adeodatus, she is in there. Your mother-in-law and children are also in there.”

Turning to face the man who had spoken, Adeo nodded. “How are you Richard?” He swallowed and asked in a choked voice, “How is she?”

“She is doing better for the moment. I’m going to have to do a complete flush, though. We don’t want this happening again.”

The pointed look the man was giving him made Adeo cringe inwardly. “No sir.” He gestured to the man standing beside him. “This is Dr. Mitchell. He’s my Psychiatrist.”

“Dr. Martin.” Howard shook the other doctor’s hand. “I believe it would do my patient a great deal of good to see his wife.” He turned to Adeo. “Have you ever seen your children?”

Adeo shook his head in the negative, but did not speak. He could hear his mother-in-law beyond the door. She was pushing for Zoe to divorce him.

She won’t do it you know. Her mother has been pushing for it for months now, and Zoe has refused each time. Dr. Richard Martin gave him a pointed look and spoke aloud. “You may see her for a few minutes. We need to get her down to the operating room soon.”

“Thank you Richard.” Pushing through the door, he stopped beside the dual stroller. His heart constricted as he saw the two youngsters. His son and daughter stared up at him for a moment in silence be